Awards Special

Outstanding Achievement Award.

Paula Williams

Below is an explanation of exactly why Paula received this prestigious Award. The article has been submitted to the local press, who hopefully will publish it

Stratford upon Avon Athletic Club held its Awards Presentation evening at Stratford School last Saturday. The main hall was packed to capacity with some 300 in attendance. Also in attendance was the Mayor of Stratford and her consort who was on hand to present some of the evening’s awards.

For one particular club member it proved to be a very special night indeed. The club decided for only the second time in its history to make an Outstanding Achievement Award.

The only previous recipient of this prestigious award being Andrew Pozzi, the club’s three time Olympian.

The accolade went to Paula Williams. 

While many people in the audience were aware that Paula was a special athlete, few realised just how special she is.

Paula is a Vet or Masters athlete, a category you reach in athletics when aged 35 or above.

She came late to athletics, not competing in Masters events until 2013. As such she is deemed to have what is known as a low training age, ie not many miles on the clock and on Saturday she acknowledged that this could, to some extent, explain her current achievements. 

Paula came to athletics almost by accident. All 4 of her children having been members of the athletic club, she was well aware of its existence. She was spotted in a local gym by a former club member who suggested she come along to some Stratford Vets training sessions.

Williams then competed for the Vets just 10 years ago and the rest really is history.

In the current World rankings for her age category she occupies 6 top 10 indoor or outdoor rankings, She is ranked 2nd in the world for her age in both the 80 metre hurdles and shot put. In the shot put she is a mere 13 centimetres off a world number one ranking.

In the UK rankings Williams has no fewer than 12 top 6 indoor or outdoor rankings. She is the number one ranked athlete for her age in 60 metre hurdles, 80 metre hurdles, javelin and shot put. She also has 5 top 5 all-time rankings and is number one on the all-time list for shot put.

While not active in athletics until fairly late in life Paula has always been athletic, playing netball from age 9 up to county level. She also enjoys other sports, often playing tennis and also, until recently, teaching PE at a local school and this must have helped her development as an athlete.

Her commitment to continually improving extends to regular strength and conditioning sessions at the gym, pilates, training at the Stratford School track at least a couple of times a week and travelling down to Crystal Palace for specialist one to one coaching.

As well as her high rankings in both the World and UK, this year has aslo seen her enjoy considerable success in two major international meets. In March she competed in the World Masters Championships in Poland, returning with full set of medals, winning gold in the javelin, silver in 60m hurdles and bronze in the shot put, she then travelled to Italy in late September to compete in the European Masters Championships, once again returning with a full set of medals, this time gold in the shot put, silver in 80m hurdles and bronze in the javelin. She also picked up an additional bronze, having run the anchor leg of the 4x100m relay.

Despite her global success, Paula is always prepared to don the yellow and black vest and compete for our T&F teams, be that in Stoke on Trent, Stourport or here in Stratford. The consummate club member.

A truly magnificent year and a year that fully justifies her Outstanding Achievement Award at Saturday’s presentation.